Special Topic: The Automation of Higher Education

The special topic calls for papers on The Automation of Higher Education and such papers will appear in Higher Education of Social Science as a special column.

Affiliated research area:Social Science, On-line Education

Description:

Is the Internet the springboard which will take universities into a new age, or a threat to their existence? Will dotcom degrees create new opportunities for those previously excluded, or lead them into a digital dead-end? From UCLA to Columbia, digital technologies have brought about rapid and sweeping changes in the life of the university—changes which will have momentous effects in the decade ahead. On-line education is taking the increasing control of the curricula and the intellectual freedom away from teachers. The growth of on-line education can be seen as an "automation of higher education," similar with the effects to the automation of other industries in its impact on workers and work product quality. The process is part of an ongoing commercialization and corporatization of higher education. Rather than new opportunities for students the online university represents new opportunities for investors to profit while shifting the burden of paying for education from the public purse to the individual consumer—who increasingly has to work long hours at poorly-paid jobs in order to afford the privilege. And this transformation of higher education is often brought about through secretive agreements between corporations and universities—including many which rely on public funding.

Requirements:

In addition to the Review and Original Articles by invited speakers, we are inviting you to submit a relevant research paper on The Automation of Higher Education for consideration. Papers will be subject to normal peer review and must comply with the Guide for Authors.

To submit papers to the “The Automation of Higher Education” Special Topic, please go to http://www.cscanada.net. With your submission, please state clearly to the editor that your manuscripts are submitted to the Special Topic the Automation of Higher Education.